India fans may be staying away from first Test over ticket prices | Sport

Communities of Indian cricket fans may have stayed away from the Edgbaston Test because organisers were trying to “cash in” on their enormous interest in the game by raising ticket prices, according to Gulfraz Riaz, chairman at the National Asian Cricket Council.

The first day of England men’s 1,000th Test began in front of large swaths of empty seats on Wednesday and the South Asian community in particular appeared to have shunned the longer format of the game, although the England and Wales Cricket Board provided figures which suggested overall numbers of tickets bought were comparable to 2014.

Edgbaston’s capacity of 25,000 was reduced by 1,500 seats for the fixture because of sightscreen requirements. But on Wednesday the attendance was just 18,159 and on Thursday 16,754. Tickets for the later session on Wednesday were reduced to £20 in a bid to lure spectators but Riaz believes the scarcity of fans could be due to a failure in pricing strategy, among other elements including a Wednesday start.

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“The benchmark will be what the attendance is like at Lord’s, Oval and Trent Bridge. But the pricing is a lot higher than previous Pakistan Test matches so there’s an element of cashing in, perhaps, on Asian communities’ passion for cricket.

“From what I understand the prices are almost double what they were for Pakistan Test matches in some cases. Out of the two communities, the Indian cricket community is a bit more affluent and maybe they were targeted.”

Starting the Test on a Wednesday instead of the traditional Thursday for the first Test may also have played a role in poor attendances, according to Riaz. “I think it would have been better to do it Thursday, Friday and Saturday, definitely to build some momentum. I think the marketing could have perhaps been better and there’s also the genuine question of whether Test cricket is relevant to the South Asian cricket community.

A spokesman for Edgbaston said: “I don’t think our tickets were unreasonably priced starting at £29 for adults and £16 for children, the most affordable of all the Test match grounds. We have even had to open an extra stand on Friday because we are sold out.”